Harry Potter: The Summer Before Sixth Year
by snakeskinrug
Summary: AU ignores HBP. Harry gets fed up of summer at Privet Drive & decides to take responsibility for his own life. How will Dumbles & Voldemort react to Harry going AWOL. Will a time turner give Harry the time he needs to prepare for war? HPNT maybe some HPGW
1. Prologue

Harry Potter: The Summer Before Sixth Year

Eighteen days. It had been eighteen whole days since the term had ended for Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. A lot can happen in eighteen days: the Olympic Games had encouraged many children to become involved in local sports teams; the spice girls were again number one in the charts and Independence Day had taken more than $300,000,000 in the cinema box office. However Harry Potter wasn't interested in any of that he was interested in the "strange cloud formations" which were appearing in the night's sky with more frequency above houses wherein dead bodies could always be found. He didn't know what the death count currently was but he knew that every day he sat on the lawn, or in his bedroom at number 4 Privet Drive more people were going to die.

'Either must die at the hand of the other' those 9 words were the reason for all of these inexplicable deaths, for try as they might the various coroners throughout the country could find no cause. Harry pitied the muggles he really did, they didn't know what was happening and rumours were being whispered of a government cover up and chemical warfare. Which many people would probably choose to believe even if they were confronted with the truth: that a rouge group of wizards and witches were responsible for these murders; that all the people they had killed so far was just the beginning of another racially aimed war.

Harry was a wizard he knew exactly what the skull above the homes meant, he was at the centre of this war it wouldn't end until he ended it or died trying. So you can understand how infuriated he was at being stuck at his Aunt and Uncle's home in surrey unable to train, unable to communicate with his friends, unable to walk into a room without feeling unwelcome, unable to do anything whatsoever for the war effort. He was going to have to get out of here and as each day passed it looked more and more like he was going to have to do things for himself. Lying on the grass in the back garden he snorted in disgust. He (for the most part) understood why Dumbledore had done what he had but he certainly didn't like it. He didn't however, understand why after telling him that the fate of a great number of people lay squarely on his shoulders he hadn't heard another word from his headmaster about extra training he should undoubtedly be trying to do.

His Aunt was calling for him now. Uncle Vernon should be returning from work shortly so Harry was to make himself scarce. He trudged into the house and sealed himself in his room for the evening. Looking around his walls he decided that tomorrow he would leave whether he heard from the order of the phoenix or not, he would go to the local library and get the appropriate forms for the Dursley's to sign then he would go and train to save the world. And so he began to pack. Everything he owned still fit into his school trunk so it didn't take him long. He took down all the newspaper clippings from his walls and placed them along with his fourth year texts. He understood things a lot better now having gone back over all his notes from his first three years had given him a better understanding of the rules behind magic, the reason for that wand movement with that spell and had learnt that the wand wasn't actually necessary for just about every spell he'd reviewed so far. Either he was magically stronger than he had been when first learning these spells or he was once again just different being able to influence his magic by forcing enough intent behind his thoughts. In this though he didn't care if he was just different because he had yet to receive any notices from Mafalda Hopkirk telling him off for improper use of underage magic. With his packing complete save for a change of clothes he closed his trunk and decided he might just as well try getting some sleep just now. Tomorrow he would take control of his own life.

In the lane at the bottom of the garden stood a figure covered in an invisibility cloak staring intently at the small window he knew was Harry's. The boy was asleep now, early as it was, so all there was to do was keep an eye out any possible external threats.

"Constant vigilance" the figure muttered to themselves then sighed and got settled for another boring night. He certainly wasn't going to mention to anyone that he'd watched Harry pack up all his belongings. Just like he hadn't mentioned the almost constant magic Harry had been performing without being pounced on by ministry officials.

Alastor was retired now so he didn't have to even pretend to agree with the ministry's policies. He did still have to look like he agreed with Dumbledore though, so when the boy left the next morning he would have to make sure his shift was over. He shuddered at the thought of all those Weasley's anger on the watcher that Harry would slip by.

"Snape can handle it I'm sure" he chuckled to himself. It would do the boy good to be away from this place. In Alastor's opinion the boy had proven he can take care of himself so he saw no harm in allowing Harry to continue with whatever his plans were. He'd send someone to keep a tail on the kid someone who agreed this place was not what was best for Harry.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter and all of its characters are the creation of JK Rowling I'm just using them in my story plot (sorry I forgot this last time)

AN/ I am going to assume everyone reading this has ready the Harry Potter books because I can't be bothered writing a summary. I personally did not like book six and have been toying with the idea of writing my own for a while so here's the start of it, its not been beta'd and there's no written plot at this time I'm just writing what comes to me as I do it. Not a good way to do it I know but if I sat down and did that then it would take the fun out of it and I only ever write when my mind's in a very dodgy place so updates will likely be irregular at best. This will be an ongoing project to help lift my spirits when I need it. Reviews and recommendations are welcome.

Chapter 1

Harry woke up on the 23rd of June without the sense of lethargy that had been growing each morning he woke up on Privet Drive. This morning he was leaving, for where he hadn't quite decided yet but he had a vague list in his head of what he needed to have done by the end of the day.

Get to Gringotts without being caught

Do some shopping in Diagon alley

leave a false trail for the order

find somewhere to train for the summer

Firstly he was going to get the Dursley's to sign away their guardian rights for him. He'd gotten the idea from Vernon actually he'd brought the form home from work last week since it was almost Harry's 16th Birthday and muggle law was different from wizards. All these forms needed were Petuna's and Harry's signatures to go along side Vernon's and then there would be nothing anyone could do to make him come back here ever again - no matter what Dumbledore had to say on the subject. That was another sore subject for Harry – Dumbledore. Dumbledore and all his plans, what he thought was best,

"It's for the greater good, Harry" he scoffed. Well he had no right to have any say in Harry's life at all about anything other than school. He was not going to let the old git have his way any more. So what if he was only thinking of himself for a change he needed a break from his life, the life that Dumbledore had thus far orchestrated to ensure his full cooperation.

Harry groaned to himself, thinking of Dumbledore always sent him off into a raving tantrum inside his head. He really needed to get away from here but he needed to be smart about it. There was no point in escaping only to be caught again straight away. He was going to have to use the Slytherin side the sorting hat was so sure he had.

And with that thought in mind juggled with the idea of disappearing without a trace. It seemed logical to Harry that he should hide out in the muggle world rather than the wizard one and for that he would need to have a paper trail. He wasn't worried about being tracked down by muggle means (until Hermione got involved) even the, so-called, light wizards looked down on muggles so no one would try to track him that way. But just to be safe he'd do what he could to throw off anyone when they did get around to checking.

Money was going to be a problem. He had only £20 left from a few summers ago so he needed to get to Gringotts bank and that meant potential exposure before he could get anywhere. It was a chance he'd have to take since there was quite a lot he thought he needed to pick up from wizard shops anyway. Harry wasn't going to waste any more of this summer, he'd moped around for days after he got back and missed Sirius terribly but took comfort in that he was probably happier now than he had been for the last 15 years of his life. Harry had decided he was going to try his best to win this war but he knew he needed to learn a lot more and keep pushing himself until he was better than even Hermione was at magic.

With all of that in mind as he left the shower he quickly got dressed and went down stairs to join his Aunt and Uncle for breakfast. Dudley was still on his diet so there was a selection of various fruits on the table that was being glared at more that it was being eaten. '_Well it's now or never'_ he thought as he sat at the remaining seat.

"Aunt Petunia?" he began somewhat nervously. She only looked up at him briefly which he took as a sign to continue. "I was wondering if you had signed the tax forms Uncle Vernon picked up yet?" He was getting curious glances from all three Dursley's now.

"Why would you be wondering about that Boy?" snarled Vernon, the colour already rising on his face.

"Because I want to sign them, I'm leaving today and I don't want anyone to think I'll ever be coming back." It came out in a rush but it was clear the Dursley's knew what he was saying.

"Do u mean it Boy, there's still a fortnight till we can post them off" Vernon just wanted to see the back of his nephew for good.

"Yes Uncle Vernon, I won't be back this summer and if they're processed by the next time Dumbledore wants me to stay here then there's nothing he can do about it." He paused for dramatic effect "Let me sign them before I go and you'll never have to see me again". There was a sucking in of breath from Petunia and Vernon's eyes were shining at the mere thought.

"Well lets not put it off then. Vernon go and get them from our room. Get his birth certificate and passport too I don't want any trace of him left in this house."

And just like that he was gone from Privet Drive for good, along with his copy of the agreement. Petunia had just thrust it at him on his way out the door. He was now armed with what he needed to disappear from the wizarding world like no pureblood would know how to do.

He was now enjoying the view from the train that was speeding its way towards London. He felt better than he had in a month, with his trunk shrunken in his pocket and Hedwig off to stay with Neville for the summer, he couldn't have Ron or Hermione look after her in case they were staying at HQ and it tipped off the Order. He had a three day head start and he planned on using it to disappear.

The train pulled in at Kensington Station from which it was a short journey on the underground to Diagon Alley. It was still rush hour so he didn't notice the brunette that was swapping at all the same stops as him.

As he approached the entrance to the Leakey Cauldron he was uncertain of what to do. He knew he'd be recognized instantly and did not want that to happen. He saw that the pub was next door to discount clothes shop and since he still has some change left in his pocket he went in and bought the cheapest cap he could find it wasn't much but at least it covered the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

With the leaky cauldron behind him he climbed the steps to Gringotts: again appreciating the splendour of the building. He became more anxious the longer he stood in the queue waiting to be served, continually glancing over his shoulder he didn't notice he was at the front of the queue until

"Key please" the gruff voice of the goblin caused him to jump. As he sheepishly handed over his key the goblin paused and took a long time to look at Harry (only making him more nervous) before calling out something in gobbledegook. "Just one moment sir and Griphook will escort you to Sharpclaw's office"

"Thank you Stonefist," Harry said politely reading the teller's name tag. He didn't know why he was going to Sharpclaw's office when he only wanted to get his money and be gone but he didn't want to draw attention to himself by objecting. As Griphook led him away he recognised him as the same goblin who had first taken Harry to his vault with Hagrid. "Hello again Griphook, do you know why I'm being taken to see Sharpclaw? I only came in to visit my vault"

The goblin was startled that a wizard had bothered to catch his escorts name never mind remember that he had met this same goblin before. He was unsure if this was the sort of unusual behaviour he was supposed to report to his superiors or not, it certainly wasn't threatening but it was peculiar.

"Mr Potter I'm afraid I do not know why Sharpclaw wishes to see you but I will be available to take you to your vault after your meeting is finished"

Harry walked into the office indicated to see a goblin engrossed in a very thick folder of files. He coughed to make his presence known.

"Ah Mr Potter I was going to be sending you a letter this afternoon but seeing as you are here I would like to discuss a time that would be good for us to go through your accounts"

"Accounts? I have more than one?"

"Yes Mr Potter the Potter portfolio has grown significantly with the passing of Sirius Black and I would like to discuss with you the various impacts this has had on your financial and legal situation."

_Well here goes my nice clean break _Harry thought sullenly. _But I might as well get this over with._

"I have some time available just now if that's alright?"

"That would be ideal Mr Potter"

"Harry, just Harry please Sharpclaw" The goblin was startled

"Alright Harry, I am pleased to inform you that, along with the deceased's wishes" he winced, 'the deceased' sounded so clinical in his ears. "You have received almost the entire Black fortune. This combined with the Potter fortune has made you a very rich man. Your business portfolio has become even more respectable and your real estate value has increased as well." The goblin was showing a very toothy grin as he said all of this. But Harry was just confused

"Real estate? Business portfolio?" he had no idea what all of this meant but his head start was trickling away by the second. "Sharpclaw I had no idea I had any of that to begin with. I thought my dealings with Gringotts went no further than the vault I take money for my school supplies from. What does this mean? I don't know what to do with all of that."

"Harry the vault you take money for your school supplies is just your trust vault. The rest was managed by your grandfather until he passed on and the responsibility fell to your farther. For the last 15 years The Potter portfolio has been managed by some of our staff to keep it at a steady value. I'm sorry to say that parts were very poorly managed and your net worth could have been significantly higher than it currently is. For this reason we would like to know if you wish to take over the management of your own accounts? Mr Black filed for your emancipation and recognition as a legal adult before he died and the paperwork was just passed and completed processing yesterday. As such you now have complete access to your accounts, not just your trust vault." Harry just sat there flummoxed.

"So" he began "at this moment how much money do I have?"

"The latest tally had the number of un-invested galleons in your vaults at around 9,000,000" The goblin looked pleased at Harry's astonishment "add on to that your real estate and stock values and the number is significantly more." Harry felt a little sick, that was an obscene amount of money but his mind was racing with the possibilities.

"Waow Sharpclaw that's a lot, I'm not sure what to say to that, but my mind is now spinning with ideas, I don't know where to start"

"If I may make a suggestion Harry..."

"Of course"

"I would recommend that either you or someone who has your interests at heart take control of the account, nine million galleons sitting in a vault is a show of poor investment"

"Really? If u say so. Erm I suppose Remus Lupin would be a good choice." He paused to think for quite a few minutes "Yes I think I'm starting to get my head around this. I think I'd like to have Remus in charge of handling all this money stuff but I'd like to set up a few things since I seem to have more money than I could spend myself in a lifetime"

"What sort of things Harry, I shall do my best to accommodate you?"

"I'm still thinking this out as I'm saying it so bear with me. I'd like to set up a vault with 4 million galleons in it to be accessible to people who have had their lives destroyed by Voldemort to pay for hospital bills, loss of income, damages, whatever. I'd like to hire enough house elves to make all of the properties I currently own habitable and to keep them that way. How many houses do I own?" He paused and took in Sharpcaw's look of wonder who quickly began searching through files

"You own quite a lot, two country manors, a dozen town houses and cottages and a castle"

"A castle really?"

"Really"

"That's so cool. I'll think on what to do with that. Do house elves count as acceptable guardians?" he pondered not really expecting an answer "Anyone who needs to go into hiding from Voldemort I want them offered relocation, that can be for muggle families too, can I get the Fidelus and a whole load of other wards put on them?"

"yes Harry certainly" the goblin was in shock Harry was talking about actively funding the resistance to Voldemort "However that will cost a lot of money, and I'll need for you to decide on a secret keeper if you wish to have the Fidelus charm placed on all of these properties."

"That's fine I seem to have more than enough money to spare. I'll think on the secret keeper and have a decision before the wards are cast"

"I can set a team to work on this immediately. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, any kids that would otherwise be sent to an orphanage or an unwilling home I want somewhere for them too"

"Harry this is all going to take time to set up but I will get in touch with Mr Lupin and get started right away…"

"No" Harry interrupted "leave off contacting Remus for three days. I'm going to be disappearing for the rest of the summer and don't want anyone knowing I'm gone yet." Sharpclaw looked suspicious but conceded to his request.

"Alright then I shall get started on setting all of that up, it is very generous of you many people will owe their lives to you if history is to repeat itself"

"Yes that's the idea the bastard's done enough damage to my generation. Now that I'm thinking about it almost everyone in my year group has lost at least one member of their family, I don't want it to happen again"

"Is there anything else I can help you with today?" Sharpclaw would do anything he could to help Harry now, he had a feeling that the goblins may finally have a side they could back in the struggle that would most likely turn into a wizarding civil war this time around. Harry looked thoughtful for a moment as if forgetting his purpose in being there in the first place.

"Yes I'd like to take out a fair sum of galleons and muggle money. Do u have the location of that castle too?

"Griphook can take you to your vault and to the exchange desk while I find the keys and relevant information on your castle"

"Yes that sounds great. Thank you for all of your help Sharpclaw"

"It has been a pleasure doing business with you Harry."

Once his office door was closed Sharpclaw began to assess just what exactly had happened, he was sure Harry hadn't realised it but he had essentially just set up a trust that could very well save the wizarding world and he had done it out of concern for the general population, not for political position and with no care for how much it would deplete his accounts, Director Ragnok would have to hear of this. With his mind decided he found the file on Gryphon Castle and added a quick note to the front of the file so Harry wouldn't have to read the whole thing he surmised it very nicely by saying: _Gryphon Castle. Just outside of Edinburgh can only be entered with permission of a member of the original families blood line. It is warded as heavily as Hogwarts and ministry trackers cannot work within it._

He took the file to the exchange desk to be given to Harry when he returned from his vault and returned to the mountainous task Harry had set for him.

Meanwhile in his vault Harry was busy loading up a lot of money. He had wandlessly shrunk his school trunk before he left number 4 (so as not to look suspicious to the order's guard)

So he was going to go and buy everything he could see that might help him with his training along with a whole new wardrobe. The only things he had accessible were the things that he had put into his rucksack:- his photo album, wand, invisibility cloak and the marauders map. Griphook had had to give him five money sacks already. He was going to need enough money to not have to come back to Diagon alley at all this summer. Most he planned on changing into muggle money so he wasn't carrying sacks and sacks of gold around with him.

"Thanks for the help Griphook I think that's enough now" he said after the sixth sack was full of galleons. _I' going to get a lot of stares lugging all of this to the exchange desk_ he sighed, it couldn't be helped, he'd have to shop fairly quickly in Diagon alley then disappear into greater London.

"Mr Potter I have been informed that u now have full access to you accounts and I feel obliged to let u know that when shopping in wizarding shops simply give the clerk your vault number and key so they can make an imprint and you don't have to carry a heavy weight of gold around" Said Griphook

"Oh, I never knew I could do that, well that's good I can get all of this changed into muggle notes then, Thanks Griphook", _how come no one ever told me that before? _Harry wondered as he heaved the last sack into the cart.

He was handed the folder that Sharpclaw had left at the desk along with thick wads of muggle notes adding up to around £10,000. Making sure everything was secure in his rucksack he slipped back into the crowd and to do some shopping, the day was getting on and he had a lot more stops to go before the day was done.

Tonks was bored. She's been contacted by Alastor in the middle of the night to be assigned to watch Harry Potter, she's argued that he was already being watched and there was no space for her on the shift rotation (she'd asked to be on it and had been denied by Dumbledore) only to be told that this was an assignment from Moody himself, not from Dumbledore or the order. That while various people were watching the house he wanted her to be tailing Harry himself. He told her his suspicions and told her that it was to be an ongoing undercover operation and she was only required to check in with a complete report of his activities once a week.

She had been sceptical at first (she along with everyone else thought moody was overly paranoid) but she agreed to the assignment thinking that it would amount to nothing and took up position under an invisibility cloak to wait and see if Moody was right.

She saw Snape take over guard duty, muttering to himself the whole time and saw him sneer at Harry as he was practically shoved from the house with what looked like a shopping list being thrust at him. She followed Harry down the street to the main road and was surprised when he climbed onto a bus instead of heading to the shops like she'd expected. It was rush hour so she wouldn't be able to wear the invisibility cloak on the busy bus without Harry becoming suspicious. The bus was starting to pull away so she had to think quickly. Darting into a side street she quickly put the cloak into her rucksack and changed her appearance so she'd fit in on the bus before sprinting back onto the main road hoping that all of the red lights would mean that she'd beat the bus to the next stop.

Once on the bus she cursed to herself that this one time Alastor had to be right. She found it quite hard to keep track of Harry once he'd made his way onto the underground it was very busy, but she managed, just. When they arrived at the Leakey Cauldron she put the cloak back on and followed Harry into Gringotts knowing that she'd have to wait in the lobby or risk setting off all the goblin security spells. She waited for a long time before Harry finally appeared with a lot of gold that he changed into muggle money. _Why did moody have to be right about this_ she groaned to herself before trying to keep up with Harry in the crowds.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclamer: The wonderful world of Harry potter and its characters belong to JK Rowling anything else is mine.

Chapter 2:

As Harry walked down the alley he wished that the Hogwarts letters had been issued, the current crowd was not enough to swallow him up if he saw someone who recognised him. It was fast approaching midday and he was rushing through his shopping, glad for the time he had spent living in the Leaky Cauldron before his third year he went straight for the shops he needed with little time dallying in between. His first stop had been Flourish and Blotts bookshop where he had bought books on subjects not taught in Hogwarts: wandless magic, since he seemed to have a knack for it; Occlumency and Legilimensy, however much he believed that Snape had only weakened his mind he did think that the headmaster was sincere in believing Harry needed to learn it; Anamagi, he needed any useful disguises he could get and he just thought it was very cool. He spent a long time in the Defence and Transfiguration sections and bought several books that he thought might help. The clerk shrank his purchases for him and Harry left the shop for Madam Malkins he resigned himself to spending a lot of money that day and replaced his school robes along with buying himself a cloak without a Hogwarts crest on it.

There were only a few other things he wanted to buy before he began training and he knew that he would have to get some of them from Knockturn alley

'_plenty of people shop here, Hagrid shops here so it can't be that bad'_

He put on his new cloak and raised the hood before starting down the seedy alley. He entered the first nic'n'nac shop he saw. Most of the items looked like junk but he suspected that he just had to look harder and he'd find something useful. And he did. A summonproof wand holster and a couple of daggers coated in something. The clerk just said to make sure they didn't pierce the skin of anyone he was friends with. Harry didn't want to know more than that and left the shop quickly entering a book store a few doors down.

If Dumbledore had researched the ritual Voldemort had used to return to a body then he hadn't told Harry any conclusions he had reached, so on seeing a couple of books about dark rituals he added those to his ever growing list of purchases. All he needed to do now was stock up on some healing potions as well as potions ingredients, he knew himself well enough to know that he would probably need them at some point and he needed to improve his potions skills before the new term started anyway. He also needed to find a shop that sold dragon hide vests like the twins owned, except less garish.

As he was heading back into London he returned to Flourish and Blotts to buy a book on glamour and concealment charms again asking the clerk if he could shrink his various bags. He crammed everything into his rucksack, hoping he hadn't forgotten anything, and left Diagon Alley for muggle London.

Now was the hard part he needed to head to Scotland to his castle just outside of Edinburgh but he didn't want to be traced there. He'd get the bus to London's ever busy Heathrow airport and buy a couple of plane tickets to throw off the trail

'_Am I being overly paranoid no one's likely to check'_ shaking his head he muttered

"Constant vigilance" the one thing he had learned from mad eye moody was that you can never be too careful.

He was glad he had changed so much gold into muggle money he'd bought tickets to both America and Australia and they were not cheap. The fact that he'd paid cash had raised a few eyebrows too and he was pretty sure he now had security guards watching him, not wanting to push his luck he left the airport and took a bus that would take him close enough to walk to kings cross station. The driver let him know when it was his stop and pointed him in the right direction as he got off the bus.

He didn't immediately recognise the street he was on but as he approached the fist cross roads the driver had told him of he stopped and looked more closely. There across the street was a broken-down red telephone box next to a shabby looking pub, and a wall covered with graffiti. He had stood on this exact spot not even three weeks ago on the disastrous attempt to save Sirius. That night came back to the forefront of his mind so suddenly he almost staggered from shock. He missed Sirius so much, the thought of getting his name cleared and leaving the Dursley's to live with him had been a fantasy that had kept him sane throughout the last two summers. Now that was gone, he was free of the Dursley's but he would never see Sirius again, there wouldn't even be a grave since his body couldn't be recovered from the other side.

Before knowing what he was doing he found himself in the phone box once again descending into the atrium of the ministry of magic. The place was busy with people coming and going from their lunch breaks, the fountain had been repaired but he could still see some scorch marks from where Voldemort's spells had collided with Dumbledore's. He walked, trance like through the lobby into the lifts and once again found himself before the door that had plagued his dreams for months.

The room span as he knew it would, the markings Hermione had made had been removed but it didn't matter he now knew that all of the rooms connected to each other anyway, it would just take him some time to find the death chamber where he had watched helpless as Sirius fell through that cursed veil.

The memories of that night haunted him as he made his way through the room with the brains (Ron was going to carry their scars for a while yet) and on to the prophecy room.

'_if only he had told me before I would have known what he was looking for, wanting me to do, this all could have been avoided if I had known about the prophecy'_

And then he found himself once more in the top tier of the empty amphitheatre watching as Sirius and Bellatrix fired insults and spells at one another. He slowly descended the stairs and found himself in front of the veil. He could hear the voices again telling him to reach through that Sirius was just on the other side. He let himself cry for Sirius and the promised life that could no longer be and vowed that he would do everything he could to stop Voldemort as soon as possible, before too many lives were lost and families destroyed.

With that promise made he snapped out of his trance like state and realised what an idiot he'd been in coming here, into the ministry of magic itself when he was trying to get away from the whole wizarding world. He took off his visitor badge and placed it before the veil _'just some more misdirection'. _Hearing the sounds of footsteps he put on his invisibility cloak amazed that his luck had held out and he had yet to be noticed he carefully climbed the tiers again and made his way out of the department. Not before picking up on or two things he thought might help him train of course.

It was a five hour train journey from kings cross to Edinburgh, he had immersed himself in the file Sharpclaw had given him and he now knew where he was going when he got off the train. He had reread through the part on the wards at least three times and thought he understood it now, he had been shocked at first but was overall relieved that the castle's wards prevented the ministry's tracker spells. He would still practice his new found talent of casting without a wand but it was a relief that he could still use his wand if he needed to. There was a nasty looking spell to allow other people access to the property but he didn't bother learning it yet. He had no one that he wanted to know how to get to him.

He had rearranged all of his shopping unshrinking his trunk and putting his new purchases in it leaving only his invisibility cloak, bank key and muggle money in the rucksack his wand was strapped to his arm in his new holster. He would have to do some more shopping once he got off the train he planned on burning Dudley's hand-me-downs as soon as possible.

He was almost being lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the train when a noisy group of teenagers about his age got on in Newcastle. The rest of the train must have been filling up because they took seats around about Harry. He immediately found himself watching them looking for possible threats. There were two girls who both looked like they could take care of themselves neither had stumbled as the train began to move and they were both burdened with several shopping bags overall though he didn't think they were looking to start trouble. The three boys with them were another story constantly looking at the other passengers much as Harry was looking, to see trouble before it was too late. Harry noticed that although they were wearing baggy trousers he could make out that all three were carrying knifes he tensed ever so slightly wishing he'd kept his daggers within reach.

They relaxed again when they seemed to have finished their scan of the fellow passengers and Harry allowed himself to listen in to their conversation.

"..next time just make sure your not being watched ok I get enough exercise without having to run from security guards" the girl with purple streaks in her hair was scowling at the boy with a nose piercing

"Relax Erin I wasn't even doing anything this time"

"Yeah it's not our fault they automatically think we're out for trouble" the one with the lip stud defended his friend

"Come on, you guys are always so intimidating who do u think they're gonna be keeping their eyes on, you lot or someone like him" said the red head

Harry tried not to react at hearing himself being brought into the conversation but against his own will felt himself tensing up.

"It's those neds they should be watching out for, they just rile me up so much every time they open their mouths"

"yeah but its not like there's anything you can do about it, getting angry over it just makes them look right" the red head seemed to think that was the end of the conversation and began flipping through a magazine with the boy who had yet to contribute anything to the conversation the other two boys grumbled about how she was always right before heading off to the diner cart leaving Erin popping her gum while studying Harry. He was trying to act like he hadn't noticed her but the longer she sat watching him the more annoyed he got he was just about to ask her what was so fascinating when she started to speak

"Most people would have snapped by now"

"Yeah well it is quite annoying"

"So what's your deal?" she was still studying him

"What d'you mean" he was shifting in his seat now _'is she a witch has she recognised me'_

"I saw u listening to us and checking us out when we got on, that's pretty suspect behaviour, who're you running from?"

"Running from? I'm not running from anything"

"You sure? You look awfully much like you're just trying to disappear into that corner there"

"Just trying to escape from your questioning" he tried to sound sure of himself

"Ha, yeah well maybe but I don't think that's all"

When he didn't respond but instead turned back toward the window she didn't seem deterred. Apparently Harry was more interesting than whatever magazine her friends were reading. "So what brings you to Edinburgh?" Shrug.

"We're on our way back from a concert. Are you gonna need someone to show you round?"

"Why? Are you offering?" '_what was he doing he wasn't here to make friends he was here to train to defeat the most evil dark lord since Grindewald, ok so it might be nice to have some time off now and again so knowing people to hang out with might help'_

"I could be. But only if your first stop is some shops" she wrinkled her nose at Dudley's cast offs. The look actually made him smile

"Yeah definitely I'm burning these at the first chance I get"

"Good in that case then. Hi I'm Erin, that's Tracy and Mark" nodding to her friends. They both looked up when they heard their names.

"Hi, I'm Harry" they said hi then went back to their magazine. Harry and Erin chatted about anything that came to her mind with Paul and John joining them before the train came to a stop. He found he quite enjoyed their company and let himself be dragged off to some clothes shops by Erin and Tracey with a promise to meet up with the boys later on.

'_He's not is he, oh what is that boy doing now.' _Tonks grumbled to herself_ 'why does moody have to be right on this one. How long am I going to have to tail him before moody wants me to bring him in. He didn't sound like wanted that at all just that he was going to let him do whatever he wants as long as I'm watching. Oooooh he'd better get himself caught by someone I do not want to be following him around all summer'_

She had followed him throughout his shopping in both Diagon and Knockturn alleys. She'd followed him at the airport and began to worry about having to buy a ticket to follow him on a plane she'd have been screwed then, she didn't have a muggle passport and she'd lose her job for obliviating muggles. So she was relieved when it seemed that those tickets were solely to have Dumbledore tracking the other side of the world for him. She gave a sigh of relieve when he entered the visitor entrance of the Ministry sure that he'd have a dozen people asking what he was doing there before he even got passed the security check. However, when she got into the booth herself she didn't see a swarm of people around Harry, she couldn't see him anywhere at all she swore to herself but wasn't sure what to do next. Should she try and find him in the busy lunch crowds or what? Wait, that's it she'd just wait for him to leave the same way he'd come.

The crowed began to thin she would look a little obvious just standing by the phone booth waiting for him so she put her cloak back on and waited, and waited. She was beginning to think that he'd been found and taken to Auror headquarters when she heard footsteps approaching but saw no one, the lift began to ascend by itself and she remembered that Harry too had an invisibility cloak. Again she waited for the booth to finish coming back and hoped that by the time she got to the street she'd still be able to see him. It didn't really matter if she couldn't she knew he was heading to kings cross she'd of course been listening to his conversation with the bus driver.

She caught up to him just before he was once again swallowed up by the crowd and followed him onto a train and got comfy. The train filled up and emptied again and Harry stayed on she watched as he talked to a group of teenagers and stayed close as he left the station with one of the girls on each of his arms.

She groaned again _'this is gonna be one hell of a long summer.'_

AN/ thanks for all of your reviews I'm sorry if any of the text speak go through again unless its in conversations, then its meant to be like that. I'm posting these pretty much as soon as I've written them so could be a while before the next one, or it could be really soon, depends on when I get a job. Anyway thanks for all the encouragement.


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